Princesses of Tennis
by BlueBerry164
Summary: After Ryoma left for America, Sakuno, being an intelligent and hardworking student, was offered to attend a prestigious school famous for its tennis team, along with her two cousins. Two years later, she returns to Seigaku as a whole new person...well, less clumsy and more confident, at least. Contains RyoSaku, FujiOC, and TezukaOC.
1. Snowbell

**_Author's note_** ** _:_** _Hello, people of the interweb, Berry here~! This is my first fanfic, so I'm still working on my fanfiction-writing skills.(;^;) Please excuse my continuous slight changes to the story, I'm still what you may refer to as a "newbie." Okay, thanks~!_

* * *

It was late afternoon, and a certain genius was leaning against the doorway of the music room, smiling happily, waiting for the next piece to begin. Soon, the grand piano's soothing melody began gently floating into the air, echoing softly down the empty corridors of Seigaku.

Fuji listened intently, honey-brown eyes stared out the window at the sunset, admiring its beautiful variety of colors. He often wondered who was playing on the other side of the door. 'What was the person like? Was it someone he knew? A classmate, perhaps?'

The brunette had only dared to peek in the room once. The door had creaked slightly when he tried to quietly pry it open during one of the symphonies. He had hoped the music would cover it, but immediately, as if a hot knife had sliced through soft butter, the music stopped abruptly, and the room was filled with silence once again. After what seemed like eternity, the symphony resumed as if nothing had happened.

Ever since then, Syusuke decided against any other urges of curiosity, in fear of destroying his precious little haven.

The light harmony's soft caresses eventually became irresistible as his eyelids got heavier by the moment. Finally, the Syusuke's last wall of defense crumbled as he drifted off to sleep.

Silky raven hair swished around her waist as she stood up and gently closed the grand piano's lid. Gathering her things quietly, the girl stood up and walked over to the door.

Peering around the door crack, a ghost of a smile touched her lips at the familiar sight.

He had come again.

* * *

It had been a few weeks ago since she came back to Tokyo with her twin sister, Natsumi, and her adorable younger cousin, Sakuno. The brunette had gone back to her grandmother's house, while the sisters were still unpacking at their mother's house.

Fuyumi strode down the empty school hallway, heading to the office. The staff member said that registration was going to take a while, considering that her sister and she transferred schools in the middle of the semester, and from a boarding school no less, which made it difficult to adapt and fit in their schedules, and required her to make a few visits.

During these visits, she explored the school and found the music room. After asking the music teacher, she got permission to play the piano after school hours.

It was a week ago since she noticed a brown-haired boy sleeping outside the music room. At first, she was tempted to wake him up, but decided against it, for he appeared so peacefully asleep.

For some odd reason, Fuyumi often found people staring at her, particularly people of the opposite gender. It always confused Fuyumi when her friends called her "ice queen," although Natsumi preferred "dense baka."

Her thoughts was interrupted when she rounded the corner and finally reached her destination.

Taking a deep breath, Fuyumi slid open the door. She couldn't wait for this to be over.

* * *

Fuji woke up with a start as a particular red-haired acrobat of his tennis team began shaking his shoulders frantically.

"Oi, oi, Fujiko! Don't die, nya~!" Eiji cried out dramatically,"I knew it! Inui's newest drink was deadly afterall!"

Oishi, the mother hen of the team, quickly caught up and dragged the acrobat away from the genius.

"Eiji, don't shake him like that!" he scolded his partner.

"Saa, it's alright, Oishi."

The mother hen sighed, "Well, tennis practice is about to start. We better get going if we don't want to do extra laps."

Fuji quickly got up and joined the other two regulars on their way to the tennis courts.

'I accidentally fell asleep again,'the sapphire-eyed boy thought to himself,'Oh well, perhaps next time I'll be able to meet that person...'

Although he didn't want to ask, Oishi was curious.

'Why was Fuji sleeping there?'

He glanced over at the boy next to him.

"Is there something on my face?"

"Ah, nothing much. Just wondering why you were taking a nap in front of the music room."

"Yeah, are you tired or something, Fujiko-chan?" the redhead added, looking at him with concern.

"Saa, perhaps I am..." Fuji replied thoughtfully, as the group reached the courts.

Tezuka looked at them sharply.

"You're late. 20 laps!"

Eiji's eyes went wide, "Noooooo! I checked the library's clock when we left, and I was so sure that we wouldn't be late, nya~!"

His partner sweatdropped, "Eiji, the library's clock is broken. They said that on the annoucements this morning, weren't you listening?"

"Oishi and Eiji, 30 laps!"

"Hai, hai!" The two regulars immediately began running.

"Fujiko-chan, you could've at least warned us, nya!"

Fuji merely grinned, now on his fifth lap.

* * *

"Tadaima, Okaa-san."

Fuyumi entered the kitchen and began helping her mother prepare their dinner. Her mother looked up from her cutting board.

"Okaerinasai, Yumi," Satomi replied warmly,"Is the registration going well? Do you know when you and your sister will be able to start school?"

Fuyumi smiled slightly,"Hai, the staff said that we can begin next Monday, although they still require some additional paper work to be done, so I'll need to go there again tomorrow."

The older woman sighed,"Are you sure you don't want me to go instead? There is a lot of material you need to catch up on, because you're in such an advanced class, and you must be tired from waking up so early for your morning exercises and-"

"I'll be fine, trust me," her daughter reassured her,"Sumi and I will manage. We'll pick up your medication tomorrow, after I return home. We might also drop by the tennis courts with Saku-chan, if she has time."

Satomi looked up from her stir-fry pan, "Ah, how is Sakuno-chan anyway? I haven't seen the little girl in almost two years, since she left to join you two at that boarding school in Shikoku."

A tiny hint of a smile crossed her daughter's face.

"She is doing fairly well. She has great potential as a tennis player, just like you said"

Seeing that Satomi didn't require her help anymore, Fuyumi went upstairs to her bedroom. Well, it wasn't necessarily hers, persay, because she shared it with her idiot of a twin sister.

She opened the door.

"Oh hey, dense baka."

Only to be greeted by chaos.


	2. Arrival

Sakuno sighed contently, as she flopped onto her soft, pink bed. She had finished packing away her clothes the day before, and had just hauled her suitcase downstairs. The brunette smiled, she was finally back in her hometown again, after somehow managing to survive the brutal training and schoolwork she had to endure at her old school.

Her eyes fluttered shut, reminiscing her past two years. It was difficult to keep up with the advanced courses, in addition to the harsh training regimens that came along with being a member of the elite tennis team. Thankfully, her cousins were regulars on the team and had helped her throughout the two years. Half-way through her first year, she managed to become a regular, all due to their efforts.

The young Ryuuzaki remembered all of the early mornings she spent jogging with Natsumi, which helped her build stamina, and all of the late afternoons, when she worked on her footwork, strategy, accuracy, and techniques with the aforementioned cousin. During the evenings, after dinner, she would be tutored by Fuyumi and finish her homework before going to sleep.

Sakuno chuckled at the memories of the twins' antics. In addition to their polar-opposite personalities, the girls shared nothing alike in physical appearance. Natsumi was fairly tan, while her younger twin had a paler complexion. Sakuno often found herself quite jealous of the older twin. Natsumi's hair was a cute strawberry-pink, which was cut short an inch or two right under her chin. Even though, the latter girl repeatedly claimed that she would kill for soft, long hair like the brunette's.

But despite their differences, the twins got along okay. "Okay" meaning occasional arguments and sarcastic comments here and there.

"Sakuno!"

The strained voice of Sumire snapped the young Ryuuzaki out of her musings. She hurriely ran downstairs. When she reached the end of the staircase and rounded the corner, she let out a sigh of relief, seeing that her grandmother was fine. She had been on a constant high alert ever since the elderly woman collapsed a few weeks ago, which was the reason that prompted her to return to Tokyo. The girl didn't want to lose another precious family member, especially not after the car accident that took her parents when she was little.

"Mou, Obaa-chan, don't scare me like that!"

Her grandmother merely chuckled.

"Gomen, Sakuno, you know how all the yelling I do at practices affects my voice. Anyway, Natsumi just called and asked if you wanted to go to the tennis courts tomorrow, I told her that you would and she said that she and her sister will drop by and pick you up at 1:30."

"Arigatou, Obaa-chan! Is there anything else?"

The Seigaku coach frowned, thinking hard.

"There was something else that I wanted to tell you, but I can't seem to remember what it was..."

Sumire sighed, frustrated, she didn't appreciate how fast her old age was catching up to her. Giving up, she finally said," Just remember that you're starting school next week."

Sakuno nodded,"Hai, Obaa-chan."

Turning around, she began heading back upstairs.

'Hmm...I wonder how the senpai-tachi have been doing.'

With that thought in mind, Sakuno prepared her tennis gear and planned her outfit for the next day.

That night, she had trouble sleeping, her thoughts often floating off to a particular boy wearing a Fila cap, who also happened to be half-way across the world, in America.

It was also at that moment, downstairs, Sumire remembered what she was going to say.

"Didn't Nanjiro say that his son was coming back from America?"

* * *

"Stop calling me that," Fuyumi said, annoyed," And get your things off of my bed."

The twins' bedroom wasn't very complicated. The rectangular room had a cream-colored wallpaper, with the entrance on the left wall and a wide window in the middle of the right wall. The twins each had their own bed, Fuyumi had the ocean-blue one on the window's left and Natsumi had the forest-green one on the window's right. Both had nightstands next to their beds. Near the foot of their beds was their shared closet, which was placed vertically in the middle of the floor plan, flush against Fuymi's side of the room, creating the illusion of there being two rooms. A large bookcase was placed left of the door, next to Fuyumi's desk, which was touching the backside of the closet. Natsumi's desk was to the right of the door, most of it pushed against the left wall. Finally, a big, fuzzy carpet was draped over half of the room's wooden floors, on the beds' side.

As Fuyumi walked over, she snatched the closest object off of her bed, which was an old trophy, and tossed it over to her sister, who was sitting on the floor, without looking.

The pink-haired girl nearly toppled over trying to save it. After successfully catching the golden trophy and examining it for scratches, she glared at her sister, who apathetically continued to clear off her bed.

She smirked, wiggling her eyebrows,"Oh? Doesn't wittle Yumi-chan miss her dear Prince Charming?"

The other twin froze, turned around, and looked at her older sister, clearly irritated.

"Are you an idiot, or were you just born stupid and ignorant?" she retorted calmly,"She was obviously a girl, not a boy. Plus, it's been a long time since we've met, she probably already forgot me."

Natsumi sweatdropped. More than a decade later and the dense baka still hasn't realized that her childhood friend was actually a guy. Or at least that's what she thought.

Originally, they used to live in Tokyo, but then, they had to move to England because of their parents' work. On the last day before they left, a brown-haired boy(or girl) had approached her, asking if he(or she) could talk to her sister. Natsumi sneakily watched the whole exchange between the two children behind a few bushes. The kid had picked a flower on his(or her) way to their house, and presented it to the then four-year-old Fuyumi, who gratefully accepted it with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Upon greater examination, the flower was a snowbell. For days, she watched her sister take care of it, and when the delicate flower finally withered, Fuyumi secretly cried with Natsumi comforting her.

"If you didn't miss him, then why do you insist on finishing high school in Japan? Clearly, it's not because of the education, because Shikoku is way better than this school, and it's not like we have any friends living here, so wh-WAH!"

Natsumi, thanks to her quick reflexes, managed to dodge a book aimed right for her face. A half-second later and she would have been knocked out cold by the flying projectile.

Fuyumi sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Just shut your trap for once and help me unpack. We're going to the tennis courts tomorrow with Sakuno-chan."

The pink-head merely grinned. She had just hit a nerve.

'Score! 15-love!' she thought to herself.

* * *

"Mada mada dane, senpai-tachi."

A pair of golden feline eyes raked across the premises of the airport terminal, searching for his family and maybe a certain group of tennis-playing upperclassmen. To no avail, the boy tsked, and was about to head the other way, when a pair of arms appeared out of nowhere and clamped onto him.

"Oi, Seishun, when are you bringing home a girlfri-itai, Rinko!"

"Okaeri, Ryoma!"

"Hey, Echizen!"

"Long time no see, Ochibi!"

"...Can't..breathe...Kiku...maru-senpai...Momo...sen...pai..."

"Eiji, Momo, let go! He can't breath!"

"Saa, welcome back, Echizen."

"Fssshhh..."

"What did you just say to me, Mamushi?!"

"I said nothing, Porcupine!"


	3. Encounter

_**Author's note:**_ _Hello again! It's been a while since I updated(obviously), and I'm very sorry! I'm figuring out the plot as I write, and sometimes(AKA most of the times) it takes me a while to piece everything together, so please forgive me if I take forever to update! Anyway, onward with the story~!_

* * *

Emerald eyes gazed back at her as she preened in front of the full-length closet mirror. Her eyes then shifted to the reflection of her sister who was behind her.

Feeling her gaze, ocean-blue orbs looked up in exasperation, then focused back on the book.

"What is it? This is the third time I've caught you staring. Is there something on my face?"

The pinkette set down her hair brush and replied with a chesire smile,"Yes, milady, it is a ugly creature called your nose."

Her black-haired twin raised an eyebrow at her sassy comment.

"Thou shalt not disgrace me with thy contumely when thy self is a most horrific creature."

Silence followed.

"What?"

Fuyumi sighed at her hopeless sister's stupidity. (A/N: Nope, you're just hopelessly ignorant of others.)

"Basically, you are annoying as fu-"

"Annnnnd you should stop there," Natsumi interrupted,"For the younger viewers." She winked at the invisible-hypothetical fanfiction camera.

Fuyumi was confused,"Viewers? Where?"

"Nevermind. It's a secret."

Her raven-haired sister rolled her eyes, then she remembered.

"Shi-," she quickly caught herself,"What time is it?" 'Please don't be 12:20 already...'

"Hm? Oh, it's 12:16. Why?"

"Not any better, but it's a start," Fuyumi muttered under her breath.

She shot up from her bed and made her way to the closet, next to her sister. Natsumi was still parading around in her pajamas. She tsked and urged her elder sister to "hurry the fu-, ahem, fudge up."

She didn't have much trouble deciding what to wear, there wasn't much to choose from. She had spent most of her time helping a certain lazy bum (AKA her sister) unpack and had yet to finish unpacking her own endless boxes of basically everything she ever owned, namely clothes. Fortunely, she was able to pull together a decent outfit. Unfortunely, a long, flowing skirt and a nice shirt were not very sports-appropriate.

Fuyumi sighed(again) at her predicament.

'Oh well, it's not like I was going to play anyway.'

She had finally given in on going after several tortuous hours of complaining, courtesy of Natsumi. They also had a compromise, which included inviting their favorite cousin, now basically their little sister, Sakuno.

Speaking of her sister, Fuyumi glanced over to check up on her. And nearly had a heart attack.

"What are you wearing-," the raven-haired girl began, but quickly stopped after glancing at the clock.

'12:23 already? Shit, the pharmacy closes for lunch break at 12:30!'

She sighed,"Nevermind, let's just go."

'Thank god the pharmacy was only a few blocks away.'

* * *

It was a joyous day for the ex-Seigaku regulars, for their super rookie had returned. That's right, after two years of studying in America, Ryoma's parents(specifically his mother) finally convinced him to come back to Japan. Besides, he missed japanese food. That was all. Totally.

"Saa, how was America, Echizen?"

"Betsuni."

"Hey, Echizen, I know this new place that has amazing burgers. Let's go, it'll be my treat!"

"Hn."

"Fshh, it's always junk food..."

"You got a problem with that, Mamushi?!"

"With your ugly face, Porcupine?! Yeah, I do!"

"Now, now, let's not fight- Fuji, where did you even get a tennis racket?!"

"BURNING!"

"Il data."

"Mataku..."

Momoshiro cracked up laughing, while his former rival smirked. It was nice to relive their old antics once in a while. The whole scene would have been perfect if their buchou, who said he was busy today, was also there.

"Oi, Ochibi, didja get a girlfriend yet?"

Everyone paused their chatter and listened intently. The prince of tennis also froze at his senpai's question, then continued to walk at a quickened pace.

"Mada mada dane, senpai-tachi."

Unfortunely, he did not manage to escape, as he was soon put into a very uncomfortable headlock by his self-proclaimed matchmakers.

"We heard that hesitation! So, you do have a girlfriend?!"

"N-"

"How could you betray Saku-chan, nya~!"

As the two rambled on about "destiny" and "fate," now aided by a very worried Oishi, a confused Kawamura, an amused Fuji, and an interested Inui.

"Idiot, give that back!"

"Mhwahahahaha, if you can catch me, that is!"

The regular's teasing came to an end as they notice someone sprinting straight at them up ahead, more specifically straight at the genius of the team. Of course, he easily side-stepped and avoided the pink-haired boy, but he was not prepared for the black-haired demon that followed.

 _Crash_

'Maa, this is interesting.'

The two were now on the ground, with the stranger on top of him. Strands of silky raven-hair tickled his face as the girl soon broke out of her slight daze.

"Itai."

Surprised by the soft voice, Fuji's eyes snapped open. As he did, ocean clashed with sapphire. Her eyes widened.

"Eh?"

Crimson color blossomed on her cheeks as Fuyumi realized how dangerously close her face was to his, particularly the lips area. She felt her face burn with embarassment.

"S-s-s-sumimasen deshita!"

With lightening speed, she got up, bowed, and ran away.

Only then, did Fuji realize that his teammates were gawking at him. Thankfully, the girl was wearing a sun hat, which blocked the others' view, but that only made them even more curious. Oishi was the first to say something, albeit not much.

"E-e-eto..."

And then all hell broke loose.

* * *

Fuyumi was not amused. She was not amused at all. Not only did she have to run after her as- _butthole_ of a sister in an annoyingly long skirt, she also had a head-on collision with a guy and almost had her flippin' first kiss taken.

Her sister, on the other hand, was having the time of her life running away from her laughing manaically.

"Natsumi Tsukino, you are so dead!"

The younger sister's proclaimation was then followed by various colorful, obscene words that the author determined to be too vulgar to physically write (so let your imagination run wild).

Soon, the older sibling found herself cornered as they neared the pharmacy. Shaking, she turned around to a very, very angry demoness. She later recalls seeing horns protruding out of her younger sister's head.

 _Five minutes later..._

"Next time come earlier!"

"Hai, hai! Arigatou-gozaimasu, Akimoto-san!"

The sun was shining and Fuyumi was happy. All was good again. Totally.

* * *

 _Ding Dong_

A sweet voice called out,"Coming!"

Sakuno was greeted by a fairly cheerful Fuyumi and a clearly annoyed Natsumi. It was an odd sight, since it was usually the opposite way around, but the brunette quickly dismissed it. It was probably just a small squabble.

Besides, something else was bothering her, and it was about Natsumi. Why was she wearing boy's clothing? But Sakuno wasn't one to judge others based on appearance, so she decided to ignore it for now. Perhaps the situation will explain itself later. And later, it did.

"Ah, give me a second! I'll go get my racket." With that, she raced upstairs.

A moment later, she came downstairs and the trio set off to the courts.

* * *

"Wah, I'm so full~"

"Arigatou, Oishi-senpai!"

"Ah, it's nothing! You guys sure ate alot...haha..." Oishi trailed off, his wallet now regretting that he volunteered to pay.

At this moment, a few guys rushed by them. Both of them seemed to be tennis players.

"We're gonna be late to the tournament!"

"It's fine, Minori, the tournament is starting in ten minutes."

"No, it's not!"

The mention of a tournament caught the regulars' attention. Momo was the first to react.

"Hey! What is this tournament that you two are talking about?"

Minori's buddy answered.

"Hm? Oh, the tournament? Yeah, it's open for anyone that wants to participate. I heard the prize is pretty worthless, but there are a lot of good players, so quite a few famous players showed up."

The slam-dunker grinned at his friends, a quite simple idea now forming in his mind.

"So, mind telling us where is this tournament of yours?"

* * *

"Ummmm..."

"What is it, Sumi-chan?"

"How should I put this..."

"Just spit it out already, it's probably just something stupid."

"I signed us up for a tournament."

"What?!"

"And we're late, so run!"


	4. Game On

**Disclaimer:** If I owned PoT, RyoSaku would have set sail within the first chapter, but I don't, so don't sue. Please.

* * *

"Hmmm...Found it! Here!" Natsumi pointed at her name. It was high up on the billboard, since she had already defeated multiple players. Next to her name was printed the name ' _Sasuke Ajibana_ ,' her opponent for her next match.

The title of the billboard and her cousin's name on it caught Sakuno's attention. "Ano, Sumi-chan, aren't these the men's matches?" her brunette cousin questioned,"And are you sure that's you?" She pointed at the label that neatly printed " _Natsu_."

Her pink-haired cousin chuckled nervously,"Ah, well..."Natsumi looked away embarrassed,"Eto...they mistakened me for a boy and they kinda ushered me away before I was able to correct them so..."

"Pft..."

"Urusai, dense baka."

Sadly, her retort did nothing whatsoever to stop her raven-haired sister from snickering. Their brunette companion merely sweat-dropped at her cousin's situation. So that explained her strange get-up today. She was trying to look the part.

The trio then proceeded to make their way to the women's billboard to see Sakuno's opponent. Fuyumi wasn't going to play, and she had made it very clear when she, despite her older sister's protests, immediately forfeited her match once she found the umpire.

Reaching the billboard, the girls' eyes scanned through the army of names and found Sakuno's next to ' _Naomi Adachi_.'

Natsumi whistled,"Looks like you're up against Adachi-chan. Ganbatte, Saku-chan, she's pretty tough~"

"Mou, Sumi-chan, don't make me nervous right before my first match," the brunette smiled. She wasn't actually nervous; in fact, she was very excited. The girl hasn't played with any other opponent other than her energetic emerald-eyed cousin in quite a while, and she was rather eager to try out a few of her new, perfected moves on court.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

A guy, along with some of his buds, approached Sakuno.

Up until this point, the trio didn't notice all of the unwanted attention they were garnering. Afterall, they did make quite an impression from the commotion they caused when Natsumi _tried_ to stop her twin from forfeiting her match. To others, they looked like an odd group, consisting of an eerily effeminate, short boy(who they all knew was a total boss at tennis), a seemingly cute, fragile girl(who looked like the epitome of adorableness to them), and a cool beauty(who seemed to have overdressed, and doesn't even belong on the court). All in all, they were set to attract bad company.

"What's your name, babe? Clearly, you aren't from around here, or else I would've remembered a hot piece of ass like yourself."(A/N: Now, now, let's not swear and be vulgar, guys.)

The aforementioned guy was now getting very uncomfortably close to Sakuno, with his friends leering over his shoulder. Now, of course, at this moment, her cousins were glaring holes through the guys' heads, but they knew Sakuno would want them to let herself handle it. Besides, if anything went wrong, Natsumi would make sure the strangers weren't leaving without a good punch to the face. They might also have to forfeit their manhood too. Might.

While she debated on how to reply to the pervert, the small brunette girl didn't even flinch from her position; instead, she opted to stare straight back at the guy. He remained unashamed, and not to mention unfazed.

"Aw, come on~! Give us a smile, sweetie," he continued slyly, putting his arm around his victim. Leaning close, he whispered while breathing down her neck,"I'll show you a really good time, if you know what I mean."

Sakuno almost gagged. His breath smelled like rotten sardines that were left out in the sun for waaay too long.

It wasn't that no one wanted to help the harassed girl, they were just afraid of what might happen to themselves if they did. Sasuke Ajibana was buff as eff and possessed a reputation of a gangster, so basically, he was not a guy to be messed with.

"L-l-let g-go of her!"

Okay, nevermind then.

"Shush, Minori! You'll be killed!"his best friend whispered furiously.

"Oi, let go of the girl, you bastard!"

"Yeah, yeah, that's not cool at all, nya~!"

Minori's friend now wanted to go hide in a hole.

The Seigaku regulars had just entered the scene, only to find these mean-looking guys bullying someone. Of course, possessing majorly inconvenient hero-complexes, they would not take injustice sitting(or was it standing?) down. What they didn't know was that the "someone" was their very own dragon coach's granddaughter. (Ah, did I mention that Sumire was moved to the high school and had resumed her role as their coach? No? Well, now you know. Cause I totally didn't decide this just now. It was all part of the plan. Totally. Okay, enough of my rambling.)

Sasuke tsked. The newcomers outnumbered him and his buddies, but no way in hell he was going to let this brunette cutie out of his grasp. So, he proceeded to block them out and continue his clearly unwanted flirting.

"Fssh, are you deaf, you bastard?!" (A/N: At this point, he might as well be.)

Very rarely did the slam-dunker and the snake agree on something, so when the two were about to stalk over and beat the ever-living shi-, I mean stool(it means 'turds' in smart-people language), out of Sasuke, they were stop short by the very steeled voice of the supposed victim.

Tired of the disgusting behavior exhibited before her, Sakuno finally pushed Sasuke away with a firm "please let go of me, Ajibana-san. You are bothering us."

The recipient of this was not amused. He was not a person to take a "no" for an answer.

"Ooo, a feisty one, aren't cha?"he drawled.

Unable to stand the rude, and not to mention absolutely revolting, guy any longer, a particular raven-haired beauty stepped up.

"Fuck off, pervert," Fuyumi ordered, now extremely irritated. (A/N: You tell him!)

Sasuke raised an eyebrow,'What did that bi-(A/N: Female dog.) just call him?'

Looking her up and down, he grinned at what he saw.

"And what if I don't?"he tested, his snarky grin growing wider by the second.

Fuyumi scowled. For the millionth time today, she regretted wearing a cumbersome skirt. Just as she was about to step forward and give the boy a piece of her mind, someone grabbed her arm.

"Let go, idiot."

"Yada."

Ignoring her younger sister pulling at her grip, Natsumi returned her attention to Sasuke.

She smirked, remembering something,"Hey, big shit(A/N: Pft...Okay, so I was about to write 'big shot,' but I mistyped, so there you go. 'Big shit' it is and 'big shit' you shall be! XD), I heard that I'm playing you next. Let's settle this on the court like real men."

Her companions sweatdropped.

"A real fuc- freak'in moron, more like it," Fuyumi muttered to herself. Sakuno, who overheard, stifled her laughter.

Natsumi raised an eyebrow. 'She just had to...'

Her opponent smirked in return.

"Confident, eh, brat?"he spat,"When you look like a girl?" (A/N: Cause she is, Captain Oblivious. Honestly, how can they not tell that he's a she?!)

The pinkette simply replied,"What? Of course, Pansy! Not in basically forever will you ever scare me." Clearly, the guy had never seen her play before.

Her attempt at provocation was obviously successful, as the face of the latter, aka "big shot(or 'big shit,' that works too. You do you, I suppose.)," was scarlet with fury.

No one messed with him.

"You better be prepared to grovel at my feet!" he screamed as Natsumi walked away to prepare for his upcoming butt-whopping.

"Hai, hai, tough guy~"

'I'm more surprised that you actually knew how to use the word 'grovel.'

Seeing that the situation was in good hands, the ex-Seigaku regulars moved on to the registration desk, with one in particular lingering behind.

Golden eyes narrowed onto a certain brunette. Where had he seen that face? But he wasn't able to figure out the identity of the mysterious girl before his senpai yelled at him.

"Echizen, hurry up! We're gonna leave you behind!"

"Hai, Momo-senpai."

 _Five minutes later..._

A large crowd had gathered around Court 7. They were hollering at the players inside. Some of them were concerned for the pink-haired boy and wanted him to back out of the match, while others were excited for the epic ass-whopping (A/N: I said no profanity!) he was going to hand to his brawny opponent.

Natsumi cooly strode over to the net. "Smooth or rough?"

"Don't care, you serve. I'll give you a handicap, since I'll win anyway," Sasuke stated snidely.

Fuyumi, now sitting at the bench next to her sister's sports bag, rolled her eyes.

'Overconfidence will be the death of this player,' she thought, glancing over at Sakuno next to her,'But he deserves the beating.'

And so, the match began.


	5. Mysterious

**Author's Note:** Hi, hi~! As I was writing today, I noticed that my little comments during the story might obstruct(look at me, using complicated words ^v^) the reader from, well, reading, like just now. Please do tell me if it does bother you. Don't be shy, I won't bite~

* * *

 _POK_

 _POK_

 _POK_

Graceful as a gazelle, she darted across the court rallying with her opponent.

'Let's see...right...now!'

With a swift motion, Sakuno lobbed the tennis ball high into the sky. Certain that it would land near the baseline like the multiple times before, Naomi hurriedly ran to the baseline...Only to see the ball drop peacefully on the service line without a single bounce, despite the height it fell from.

'Sakura no kansho.'

Sweat dripped down her face, blurring her vision. Blinking it away, Sakuno tried to focus on her match.

"Deuce," the umpire declared wearily for the sixth time. 'This is going nowhere,' he thought, before calling for a break.

The brunette huffed in frustration and began making her way to the bench.

"Relax, Sakuno, you're doing fine."

Sakuno turned around, startled, but her grimace quickly vanished and was replaced by a relieved grin.

"Yumi-chan!"

Her cousin faintly smiled, before taking a seat beside the brunette.

Sakuno sighed,"I can't handle her mirage shots, they're too difficult to return!"

She described how whenever she was about to return the ball it would appear to go through her racket. Fuyumi nodded understandingly, as she gazed thoughtfully at something off in the distance.

"You know," she said softly,"If you can't return the shot, then stop her from making it. There's a weak point in everything."

Sakuno looked at her cousin for a moment, before nodding in understanding.

"Hai, I will keep an eye out for that," the brunette replied, walking back to her match.

'Stop Adachi-san from making her shot...how do I do that?' she wondered.

"40-all," Naomi called across the court and served.

The two continued to rally until Naomi decided enough was enough.

Sakuno inhaled sharply; there it was again, the mirage shot.

'Think, Sakuno, think!'

As the neon yellow ball passed by, cinnamon orbs narrowed and focused in on the motion of the ball.

'There's no spin whatsoever, a perfect flat serve.'

SWISH

The umpire called, "Advantage in!"

Naomi bounced the tennis ball then threw it up for another serve.

'If I do this...' Sakuno wondered. Positioning her racket above the incoming ball, she returned the ball with a fierce backspin.

Originally hoping to end the game with a mirage shot, her opponent was taken by surprise at the insane amount of spin on the ball. Her shock had also just costed her a point. She tsked.

The umpire yawned, "Deuce."

For the rest of the game, Sakuno strained to put extreme amounts of spin on the ball, effectively closing down Naomi's mirage shots. Of course, she wasn't completely helpless without her special serves, as she managed to score a decent amount of points just by control and speed alone.

"3-2, Ryuzaki wins," the umpire almost cried out in relief, two hours later from when the match had begun.

But eventually even all of her skills still weren't able to help Naomi from the inevitable, for she still lost.

"It was a great game, Adachi-san!"

Naomi looked up at a smiling Sakuno, who was offering her hand. With a grin, she grabbed her hand and got up.

"Consider me impressed, Ryuzaki-chan."

The two eventually parted ways.

Looking around, the brunette didn't have much trouble locating where her cousins were. The twins had left for Natsumi's match 15 minutes after her's started, with Fuyumi coming over to check up on her every so often.

* * *

The pinkette bounced the tennis ball a bit, before throwing it up for a serve.

"Now, should I go easy or go hard?"she muttered under her breath. Flashes of the way her opponent treated her precious Saku-chan just now immediately flooded her mind.

Her heart went cold. The scumbag (A/N: Sumi-chan, I thought you were above name-calling...) wasn't even worth her time.

"Easy, it is."

POK

Cracking down her racket on the poor tennis ball with the wrath equivalent to that of Thor himself, the supposed girl-lookalike had just sent the ball flitting across the court with eerie ease, bouncing quickly off of the cement ground, and back up straight for his face.

Not wanting to ruin his self-proclaimed handsome face, Sasuke moved to block the tennis ball. Too bad, really, for he was just a split-second late.

CRASH

"What the fu-, you son of a bit-(A/N: You mean as in a cute male puppy, right?...Right?!)"

Her opponent was roaring with fury after getting knocked down by her serve, which, by the way, was an ace.

"Jesus Christ, man. Have some balls, will you? It only left a scratch."

It was true. As much as Sasuke wanted to deny it, a simple graze by the tennis ball had not only caused the high schooler to fall on his derrière and left his cheek bleeding slightly, but it had also knocked down his pride and left it bleeding too. The crowd around them laughed and cheered on his opponent.

"Yeah! You show that pervert who's boss!" Momoshiro happily hollered at the top of his lungs. The regulars had just returned to watch the interesting match.

"There is over 99.9901% that Tsukino-kun will win this match," said the data-man monotonously.

* * *

 _An hour and forty-eight minutes later..._

Sure enough, just like Inui predicted, Natsumi had won big time against Sasuke.

Everyone was amazed. At first, they enjoyed the little show at the beginning, but soon they began to realize that Sasuke was horribly overpowered by his pink-haired opponent.

To start off, the tennis player possessed deadly accuracy and control, each time not failing to send Sasuke chasing after the ball, only to see it land directly on the baseline then bounce just out of his reach. And while her opponent was soaked in sweat and fatigue, she, on the other hand, was just getting warmed up

Out of desperation, Sasuke had made the mistake of assuming that his opponent was weak based on appearances, which led to his demise.

"I'll destroy you, ya little sh-(A/N: Stop. Just stop.)!"he roared in anger.

He begun returning each shot with all of the strength he could muster, thinking to himself that those scrawny arms wouldn't hold up to any of his powerful shots. He was terribly mistakened. Thinking that it was a power challenge, Natsumi, who had been holding off to conserve energy, decided to let loose a bit. The battle of strength escalated to the point where when Sasuke couldn't return the ball, and the flying projectile crashed into the fence. The crater created by the said impact was enormous, by far the largest addition to the fence of craters behind him.

"Let's end this!" she shouted out of habit, before effectively ending the game with another power shot.

Determined to not let the brat win, Sasuke caught the ball in his racket, his face scrunched up in effort, and strained every muscle to return it.

 _SNAP_

"Huh?"

Looking down in surprise, he found that the ball had ripped through many of his racket's strings. His eyes caught the yellow ball bouncing away from him.

"2-0, Tsukino wins," the umpire declared.

Sasuke was downtrodden, his pride ripped to shreds. Not only did he lose to sissy, he also didn't even score a single point from the boy.

'Just who is that bastard?' (A/N: Anyone have some extra powerful soap?)

Natsumi merely sighed, having already lost interest in winning. It was just too easy. She almost felt bad for the guy. It was as if she was the bully, not him.

It was at this moment when a lady in the crowd recognized her.

"Oh my god, you're Natsumi Tsukino!"

Shoving past a couple indignant onlookers, the woman was by her side at the speed of light.

Her excitement showed as she gushed,"Hello, Tsukino-chan! I'm Bora(A/N: Because I was bored and lazy), a journalist at Tennis Daily magazine! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Hi, Bora-san, it's nice to meet you too," Natsumi replied cheerfully. She appreciated the attention, but it still unnerved her a bit, even after all this time.

As mentioned previously, Natsumi was once a regular on the famed Shikoku girl's tennis team and had been throughout junior high and into high school. They have remained undefeated for a very long time now, winning the national championship every single year. The record caused a lot of media coverage, and every year, there's a lot more pressure to win. Not to mention, the pinkette had also participated in quite a few prestigious tournaments herself, the U.S. Open, the Australian Open, and the Roland Garros, to name a few.

"Now, could you explain what just happened? It's not everyday that a skilled tennis player such as yourself challenges an amateur."

Before the emerald-eyed girl could even think of a reply, the lady continued, noticing Fuyumi and Sakuno approaching.

"Ooo, is this who I think it is?"

Before the journalist could pry further, Fuyumi interrupted, taking her sister's arm.

"Sorry, but we need to be somewhere right now. Goodbye." She marched off, dragging a bored Natsumi, followed by a confused Sakuno.

* * *

Feline eyes roamed the premises, before locking onto a certain girl walking out of Court 6. He had just finished a match at a nearby court, having obviously won it, and now was searching for the rest of his senpai with a particular sadistic genius who had also just finished his match.

"Saa, doesn't she seem familiar?"

Ryoma's eyes widened in surprise.

'So, Fuji-senpai noticed too?'

His eyes reverted back to the brunette in question. Pulling down his Fila cap, he cooly replied(A/N: Mhmm, sure, Echizen-san, sure.),"Hn."

Somewhere, he knew he had seen that insanely long chocolate hair and those large cinnamon doe eyes.

Unbeknownst to the prince, the sapphire-eyed prodigy was actually gazing far off at Court 7, referring to a particular girl sitting on the bench. Unlike Ryoma, he already knew the brunette was his coach's granddaughter the moment he saw her, despite the changes to the girl's appearance. He simply chose to remain silent, for it would be much more fun to see his friends' reactions when they do find out.

"Sorry, but we need to be somewhere right now. Goodbye."

Sapphire eyes followed her as she walked off.

'I wonder...what if..?'


End file.
